Aziz and Company closes doors after 53 years

By Patrick Peori

After 53 years, a “little slice of India” at the corner of Bank and Gilmour streets closed its doors for the final time at the end of September so that the long-time retailers could focus on family.

Founded in 1964 by two newlywed Indian immigrants, Aziz Ujjainwala and Zubeda Ujjainwala, Aziz and Company has been a staple family-run business in Centretown for more than half a century.

But now, the founders’ daughter and last owner Sheena Zain has closed the shop dedicated to all things India.

“Really, it’s a simple thing,” Zain said. “I just want to spend more time with my mother.”

With Zubeda now 70, Zain said she can’t balance running the business with other demands of life.

“I’m grateful for the privilege and the ability to be in people’s lives, but it takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of time,” Zain said of the demands of retailing.

For the last 53 years, Zain said, the store has always been the family priority. But now she wants to focus on her mother.

“I think there needs to be some part of her life where she comes first,” Zain said.

To do that, Zain said, she plans to travel with her mother and make up for the lost time.

It’s a decision that faithful customers such as Evan Read Armstrong are heartbroken about, but admire.

“I’m sad that it’s closing, but I’m not sad Sheena is closing it,” she said.

After stumbling into the store three years ago on her first day in Ottawa, Read Armstrong said Aziz and Company became a regular part of her life.

Drawn in by the woman behind the counter and the homespun values of the store, Read Armstrong said she began visiting the shop and even helping out at least three times a week because it reminded her of the need for passion in everything you do and the importance of standing up for core values.

“I’ve never walked away from that store and Sheena feeling anything less than amazing,” Read Armstrong said.

Although never officially working at the store, Read Armstrong lived close by and so routinely stopped in to do more than shop.

Describing the store as the “heartbeat of Centretown”, Read Armstrong said she’s grateful she had the opportunity to be part of it and is glad Zain is closing down at the time of her own choosing.

“She’s not going out of business, she’s closing on her own terms and I think that’s a victory,” she said.

It’s a family business that has been a community “treasure” for the last five decades, according to the Bank Street BIA.

“Being such a long-standing establishment on Bank Street, their absence will be felt,” a BIA spokesperson said in an email on behalf of executive director Christine Leadman. “Aziz and Co. will always have a special place in the hearts of those familiar with Centretown.”

With Aziz and Company now closed, steamed-bun food cart Gongfu Bao has plans to open its first brick-and-mortar store in the location as early as this fall.

With it all said and done and a lump in her throat, Zain said she is thankful for what the store meant to the community.

“Thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you,” she said. “Centretowners have taken care of us for a long time.”